Don Weller's Album Art

Don Weller- cover for Angel Records-circa 1970

A while back I did a pair of posts about the art of my friend Don Weller. This follow up post focuses on the art Don did for album covers in the 1960's and 1970's and mostly in Don's own words (which are more entertaining than mine anyway) taken from his email to me.

"In the late 1960s and 70s I did some album covers. I worked for a man named Bill Pate who was essentially a lettering man but had some music clients, most (of the covers) that I designed for him were photos with type on them. I did a bird painting for Bill Pate for an album whose name was "Little Bird", but I can't remember the artist (a piano player I think.) It was a two color job, green and black as I remember."

"This was probably my first actual illustration on an album cover, about that time I did some others I would rather forget: a Strawberry Alarm Clock album cover and a series of Broadway musicals for Frank Sinatra. I can't remember what they looked like, thank goodness. I think there were four in the series and sold together in a card board box like sleeve. I'm pretty sure they were rather ugly but I saved a nice letter I received from Mister Sinatra thanking me and saying how much he liked them.

During that period I did a lot of music posters for Warner Bros Records. They were for many different artists and some for Dionne Warwick, Seals and Crofts, and Gordon Lightfoot, and were winners in art directors shows, design shows and Illustration shows. And I did many more."

Don Weller-Cover for Angel Records

"The art director at Warner Bros would call and I'd drive over the hill to Burbank, meet and pick up any photos he might have. When I got back to my office in Hollywood, I'd call and explain whatever idea I'd come up with. He'd say "Fine, go ahead." I'd do the finish and take him the art by his deadline, usually a few days but often the very next day. He'd approve it and and the first time the musician would see his (or her) poster would be in the record stores (unlike the album covers that had to please everyone). So the first time Dionne saw her poster it was in the stores. I later heard she hated it."

 "I did my best album covers for Marv Schwartz at Angel Records (the Classical Music Division at Capital Records). He was the art director there, and a fine gentleman with the ability to assign illustrators, approve the result, with no one else in the loop. It was terrific to work for him, unlimited freedom. And he had long deadlines, there were a few artists he liked and used often. If you were one of those, and you were not busy you could call him and he'd find an upcoming album for you to do. There were several of us in this situation and we all tried to do our best for him.

Thanks Don!
My post on Don Weller"s Early Work
My post on Don Weller Current Work

Aunt Mame's Sheep- In Progress

This is a portrait of the sheep that I helped take care of for many years as a younger person. As I outlined in an earlier post, We had a family homestead which my Great Aunt Mame owned and where we had countless parties. On this land, my Aunt kept animals in order to maintain an agricultural zoning.

 I did a previous painting of these sheep in winter time and the owners of that painting, my Aunt and Uncle have now commissioned me to paint one in springtime. Here it is in progress which I figure as somewhere between halfway and two thirds finished. I am liking it so far. I'll post the final version when I the last strokes go on.

Nice Trade

Man and Woman Overlooking Their Vine- 7.25" x  7.25" Oil on panel by J. Kirk Richards

Artist friend J. Kirk Richards and wife Amy graciously hosted a little get together of fellow artists last weekend at his home and studio. We spent the afternoon enjoying their hospitality, good food and sharing what we have been working on. There was also an art swap. Since Kirk is best known for his spiritual and Christian themed art, he suggested that the subject for trade might be a portrait of Christ.

Cristo Redentor- 6" x 8" oil and gold leaf by Greg Newbold

I took on the challenge and did this small 6" x 8" rendition of Jesus based on a little sketch I had done a couple of years back. Kirk was excited to make the trade and I ended up with this beautiful little gem from Kirk. He said it had won an award at an art show in Virginia and I'm happy he was willing to part with it.

With the custom frame

I think I got the better end of the deal, but both sides were thrilled with the swap.At out house, we joke that if I wasn't an artist, we wouldn't have any art on the walls, but I'd like to change that. I have a couple of pictures in my collection, but I am looking forward to engineering trades with some of my other artist friends.

Uncle Sam Van WInkle- Final Sketch

 

This is the final approved sketch for my project for Liberty magazine. As I mentioned in my thumbnail post earlier, this article is about the faded convictions and slumbering values of Protestant America. I will now be taking this to finish in full color, but I have a few days before it is due, so today I am working on a private oil painting commission.

A Cristmas Carol- Final Version

 

Last post I showed the rough version for my poster of "A Christmas Carol - The Musical" for Pioneer Theatre Company's upcoming season. I needed to add some space at the top to accommodate the title and a little bleed all the way around. I also decided that losing the chain around the brim of the hat made for a simpler statement. Everyone knows what A Christmas Carol is all about anyway, so I let it go. Other than that, it pretty much the way I envisioned it turning out. Let me know what you think.

A Christmas Carol - Sketch

 

I am working on a poster for Pioneer Theatre Company to promote their production of  A Christmas Carol - The Musical. I was not aware that there was a musical version of the famous Charles Dickens tale so I was immediately intrigued. There is a version of this production on DVD that stars Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge and, Jane Krakowski, Jesse L Martin, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jason Alexander. I was impressed with the lively musical numbers (by Disney's Little Mermaid song smith Alan Menken (music) and lyricist Lynn Ahrens) and it's faithfulness to the story. I submitted several sketch versions to the client and this was the one we agreed on. The challenge was to give a feeling that this is a musical production rather than the normal dramatic version, so I added musical notations to the swirls of snow to achieve this effect.  I'll post the finished version when I wrap it all up.

Painting In Zion - A Spectacular Sight

I spent two days painting in Zion National Park this week with two artist friends. I had not been there for years and had forgotten what a spectacular sight the formations make at all times of day.

We painted hard on both days making three oil studies each day. Some were more successful than others and yet none of them are quite where I would call them finished. We spent around an hour and a half to two hours on each painting.

 I like how the sky and cliff face merge with my painting in this picture

Another (the first attempt of the trip after several months of not painting outdoors) was disappointing and I won't be showing it until it gets a major overhaul. I went for the big shapes and tried to capture the color and value. The details will have to wait as there was just too much to paint in limited time.

 

These are a couple of the views we painted complete with flaws. The light moved pretty quickly and it was tough to get a statement down before the light had completely changed. I tried to stick with my initial reactions but it is tough to not "chase the light". The second day we painted two views of the Virgin River as it rushed through the canyon. I'll show them in the next post.